Weighted and extended golf putter shaft

ABSTRACT

A stabilizing, weighted golf putter shaft, with the weight embedded within an extended shaft, that conforms with the rules of the United States Golf Association. The weight is adjusted prior to assembly in response to any given putter head so as to move the balance point of the club to a specific and optimum height above the sole of the club when in use by the golfer.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/211,560, filed Mar. 30, 2009, for HUNTER PUTTING SYSTEM, A WEIGHTED GOLF PUTTER HANDLE, by James J. Hunter, included by reference herein and for which benefit of the priority date is hereby claimed.

The present application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,195, issued Jul. 15, 1986, for WEIGHTED GOLF CLUB HANDLE', by James J. Hunter, included by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to golf putters and, more particularly, to the extension of shaft length and the insertion of weight allowing the balance point of the club to move to a defined point.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The art of putting is elusive for many golfers. Ever since the invention of the game, the perfect putter has been sought with a never-ending string of “improvements”. The advent of better golf course maintenance techniques and the development of hybrid grasses that allow ever closer mowing tolerances—have had the practical effect of making golf course putting greens “faster”, meaning the ball will roll farther with any given amount of applied force. The element of the game of golf called putting has therefore become an increasingly delicate art. The need for increased sensitivity on the part of the golfer finds a smaller percentage of all golfers in natural possession of that level of sensitivity. Furthermore, the smaller or slower stroke required on the modern greens, increases the likelihood for all golfers of either a club head wobble during the forward stroke due to insufficient acceleration, or a jerky stroke that tries to cure the acceleration problem at the expense of distance control. A putter that wobbles through the hitting area of any given putting stroke will cause directional problems and missed putts.

The problem of balance and stability with respect to a golf club, in particular a putter in use, finds a great many attempted solutions in the prior art. Inventions that alter the balance of the putter head by redistrubuting the weight of the head began in earnest with the invention of the Ping Putter by Karsten Solheim back in the 1960's, and continue to this day with increasingly exotic variation. Most of these have a modest impact on the stability of the club head during a putting stroke, but none of them have an appreciable effect on the balance point of the club. Any change in the balance point of the club must necessarily involve some addition of weight within the shaft of the club at any and all points along the length of the shaft from the point where it attaches to the club head to the top end of the club where the grip is commonly found. Mitchell (U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,479) and Hannon (U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,078 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,691) are representative. Wihin those patents are cited Karns (U.S. Pat. No. 3,075,768), Benzel (U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,209), Kobayashi (U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,518) and Appledorn (U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,102). All of these inventions confine the addition of weight to an area within the common playing length of the golf club. Only Hunter (U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,195) reaches beyond the normal limits of the golf club, with an extension to the normal length of the club, placing an amount of counter weight sufficient to significantly and meaningfully alter the balance point of the club.

All of the solutions to the balance and stability problem (except Hunter) are inadequate. A typical high quality golf putter has a head weight of about 350 grams, thereby placing the vast majority of the overall weight of the club at one end. Attempts to place any significant weight within a golf shaft of standard diameter face the natural limit imposed by the common diameter of the hollow shaft and the playing length of the club. The solutions, therefore, always left the optimum balance point undiscovered. There can never be enough weight added to the shaft to move the balance point of the club with a tour-weighted putter head far enough up the shaft to achieve optimum stability and sensitivity. It was impossible to discover the ideal blend of stability and balance point sensitivity because all of the added weight was necessarily at or below the situation of the players hands. With all of the weight of the club at or below the player's hands, the weight distribution must be equivalent to walking a tightrope with a pole on only one side of your body—there could be no real balance. Hunter was the first to place weight above the player's hands, but not in a fashion in accordance with the rules of the governing body of the game of golf.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a stabilizing, weighted golf putter shaft, with the weight embedded within an extended shaft, that conforms with the rules of the United States Golf Association. The weight is adjusted prior to assembly in response to any given putter head so as to move the balance point of the club to a specific and optimum height above the sole of the club when in use by the golfer.

It would be advantageous to provide a weighted and extended putter shaft that conforms to the rules of the United States Golf Association.

It would also be advantageous to provide a weighted and extended putter shaft that moves the balance point of the club up the shaft to an optimum point.

It would further be advantageous to provide a balance point that was the same for every club head applied to the shaft, and every shaft length used on any given club head.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawings, when considered in conjunction with the subsequent, detailed description, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golf putter in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of an extended golf grip and weight used in the golf putter of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a cutaway view of a golf putter in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a golf putter in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a text view of a measurement formula integral to the invention.

For purposes of clarity and brevity, like elements and components will bear the same designations and numbering throughout the Figures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golf putter 10 in accordance with the invention. There are two types of putter currently in use and approved by the governing rules body of the game of golf—the United States Golf Association. The most traditional putter currently approved for use commonly ranges in length from 32 to 36 inches. The length of the standard putter grip for this type of putter is between 10 and 11 inches. The golf putter 10 built in accordance with the invention will be approximately four inches longer than the common putter described above.

The second type of approved putter, called the long putter, is from 46 to 52 inches long, has a shaft of larger diameter than that of a putter of normal length, and has two grips on the club: one about 13 inches long with an opening at each end of the grippable means, placed so that the bottom of the 13 inch grip is approximately half way up the shaft from the putter head. The second grippable means is about 5.5 inches long and is affixed at the very top of the shaft, with a segment of the shaft showing between the two sections of grippable means. The present invention incorporates both the large diameter shaft 11 commonly found in this long putter and the 13-inch long hand grippable means 12, open at both ends. The shaft is manufactured by True Temper of Memphis, Tenn., and is model #USTP625-53. The hand grippable means 12 is manufactured by Winn Incorporated of Huntington Beach, Calif. and is model #2PT5W-BM.

The golf putter 10 in accordance with the invention is assembled in much the same fashion as is a common putter of the first type listed above. The large diameter shaft 11 is cut to length and vibration deadening material is forced down into the shaft as far as it will go. The putter head, which is constructed in accordance with United States Golf Association specifications, is not unusual. Like all putter heads, it carries a specific weight. The large diameter shaft 11 is attached to the club head 13 at the hosel 14 with two-part shafting epoxy mixed with glass shafting beads in an amount that is 1% of the volume of the epoxy. When the epoxy has dried, the reduced diameter of the weight means 15 is coated lightly with the same epoxy mixture that is used for the club head 13 and slipped down into the top end of the large diameter shaft 11. Drying usually takes 12 hours. The hand grippable means 12 is then applied over two-sided tape that has been rendered slippery by the application of solvent to the tape. The hand grippable means 12 needs to cover the shaft continuously from the bottom of the hand grippable means 12 to the top of the large diameter shaft 11, per regulations established by the United States Golf Association.

A guide line 16 is engineered into the hand grippable means 12 four inches from one end, which end will be situated so that the guide line 16 is 4 inches from the top end of the finished golf putter 10 when the hand grippable means 12 is applied.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of extended hand grippable means 12 and weight means 15 used in the invention. The weight means cap 25 is visible as an area of modest thickness on the weight means 15 that has not been reduced in diameter. The diameter of the weight means cap 25 is the same as the outside diameter of the large diameter shaft 11. The diameter of the remainder of the weight means 15 is very slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the large diameter shaft 11. The weight means 15 slides into the large diameter shaft 11 during assembly, stopped by the weight means cap 25 which rests upon and achieves a smooth outside diameter equality with the large diameter shaft 11. The hand grippable means 12 then slips down over the weight means cap 25 and the large diameter shaft 11 as though they were one part.

FIG. 3 is a cutaway view of the weight means 15, the large diameter shaft 11 and the hand grippable means 12 in accordance with the invention. This view makes clear the way in which the weight means cap 25 sits upon the thickness of the large diameter shaft 11.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a golf putter 10 in accordance with the invention. In this view the weight relationship and balance point 19 of the golf putter 10 are shown. The overall putter length 21 of the golf putter 10 is measured along the centerline 20 from the point where said centerline 20 intersects with the top of the weight means cap 25 (the top of centerline 17) to the point on the club head 13 where the centerline 20 intersects with the sole (the bottom of centerline 18). The playing length of the putter, which is the length of the putter below the weight means housing 24, is the distance along the centerline 20 from the point where it intersects with the guideline to the point on the club head 13 where the centerline 20 intersects with the sole (the bottom of centerline 18). The balance point 19 finds half of the weight of the putter above the balance point 19 and half of the weight of the putter below the balance point 19. The weight means 15 inserted into the weight means housing 24 above the guide line 16 is calculated to move this balance point 19 to a specific area on the golf putter 10. The lower half weight length 1 or distance from the bottom of centerline 18 to the balance point 19 must fall between 46.5% and 48.5% of the playing length of putter 22.

FIG. 5 is a text view of the measurement formula for the invention.

In operation, the guide line 16 informs the placement of the golfer's hands on the grippable means. The golf putter 10 built in accordance with the invention is intended to be gripped by the golfer with both hands below the guide line 16. This hand placement finds an amount of weight protruding above the golfer's hands. The weight above the golfer's hands stabilizes the weight and performance of the club head 13 below the golfer's hands. It is analagous to the increased balance a tight-rope walker experiences with the weight of a pole on either side of his center. The inventor's earlier patent on this general principle achieved a measure of the same thing. This prior art was an add-on to the end of the club, and further, an adjustable add-on. As such it was ruled illegal for tournament play by the United States Golf Association. The current embodiment conforms precisely with that governing body's rules while achieving an improved level of stability and an additional result not contemplated by the prior art. In the intervening years, through experimentation and re-design, the ideal balance point 19 for a golf putter 10 constructed in accordance with the invention has been discovered. The traditional putter has a lower half weight length 1 that falls somewhere between 22% and 27% of the total playing length of putter 22. With this traditional design, the golfer's sense of weight and feel is focused on the club head 13. With a golf putter 10 built in accordance with the present invention, which has none of the adjustability of the prior art, the amount of the weight means 15 added must always be calibrated to the weight of the club head 13 and the desired playing length of the finished golf putter 10. The critical hallmark of the success of these calibrations is the location of the balance point 19. For any golf putter 10 with a given club head 13 weight and a specified playing length, the weight means 15 must bring the lower half weight length 1 to a distance that is between 46.5% and 48.5% of playing length of putter 22. With the balance point 19 in this location, not only is optimum stability achieved, but the operators sensitivity is enhanced. The stability is noticeable all along the path of the club head 13 in motion, and results in increased directional accuracy for any given strike in comparison to the inventor's previous invention or with any traditional putter. The sensitivity is noticeable to the operator via a softening of hand pressure exerted when placing the hands on the grippable means, which softening is in response to the weighting of the golf putter 10 built in accordance with the invention when the golf putter 10 is put in motion. This results in greater distance control for any give putt when compared to the inventor's previous invention or with any traditional putter.

Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is presented in the subsequently appended claims. 

1. A weighted and extended golf putter shaft for moving the balance point of any putter to the optimum point, comprising: means for insertion of weight; means for playability and U.S.G.A. rules conformity, adhesively wrapped to said means for insertion of weight; means for weight calculation, adhesively affixed to said means for insertion of weight; means for changing the balance point of the golf putter, insertably glued to said means for insertion of weight; means for definition as to playing length of the golf putter, circumferentially delineated to said means for playability and U.S.G.A. rules conformity; means for housing the weight means, internally housed to said means for playability and U.S.G.A. rules conformity; means for allowing weight means to slide down into the shaft during construction, stopping and holding said weight means at the upper portion of the shaft, and forming a cosmetic end cap that is flush with the outside diameter of the shaft; means for identifying the point at which an equal amount of the weight of the golf putter is above and below, fixedly set to said means for insertion of weight; and means for the distance location of required balance point which dictates the weight means necessary for any given club head.
 2. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means for insertion of weight comprises a hollow, elongated large diameter shaft.
 3. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means for playability and U.S.G.A. rules conformity comprises an extra-long, un-capped hand grippable means.
 4. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means for weight calculation comprises an U.S.G.A. approved club head.
 5. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means for changing the balance point of the golf putter comprises a cylindrical weight means.
 6. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means for definition as to playing length of the golf putter comprises a visible guide line.
 7. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means for housing the weight means comprises an extended shaft weight means housing.
 8. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means for allowing weight means to slide down into the shaft during construction, stopping and holding said weight means at the upper portion of the shaft, and forming a cosmetic end cap that is flush with the outside diameter of the shaft comprises an expanded diameter, cylindrical weight means cap.
 9. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means for identifying the point at which an equal amount of the weight of the golf putter is above and below comprises a measurable for every putter balance point.
 10. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means for the distance location of required balance point which dictates the weight means necessary for any given club head comprises a 46.5% to 48.5% of the playing length lower half weight length.
 11. A weighted and extended golf putter shaft for moving the balance point of any putter to the optimum point, comprising: a hollow, elongated large diameter shaft, for insertion of weight; an extra-long, un-capped hand grippable means, for playability and usga rules conformity, adhesively wrapped to said large diameter shaft; a U.S.G.A. approved club head, for weight calculation, adhesively affixed to said large diameter shaft; a cylindrical weight means, for changing the balance point of the golf putter, insertably glued to said large diameter shaft; a visible guide line, for definition as to playing length of the golf putter, circumferentially delineated to said hand grippable means; an extended shaft weight means housing, for housing the weight means, internally housed to said hand grippable means; an expanded diameter, cylindrical weight means cap, for allowing weight means to slide down into the shaft during construction, stopping and holding said weight means at the upper portion of the shaft, and forming a cosmetic end cap that is flush with the outside diameter of the shaft; a measurable for every putter balance point, for identifying the point at which an equal amount of the weight of the golf putter is above and below, fixedly set to said large diameter shaft; and a 46.5% to 48.5% of the playing length lower half weight length, for the distance location of required balance point which dictates the weight means necessary for any given club head.
 12. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft as recited in claim 11, further comprising: a top of centerline, for accurate identification of reference measurements.
 13. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft as recited in claim 11, further comprising: a bottom of centerline, for accurate identification of reference measurements.
 14. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft as recited in claim 11, further comprising: a centerline, for identification of axis along which length of putter is determined.
 15. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft as recited in claim 12, further comprising: a bottom of centerline, for accurate identification of reference measurements.
 16. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft as recited in claim 12, further comprising: a centerline, for identification of axis along which length of putter is determined.
 17. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft as recited in claim 13, further comprising: a centerline, for identification of axis along which length of putter is determined.
 18. The weighted and extended golf putter shaft as recited in claim 15, further comprising: a centerline, for identification of axis along which length of putter is determined.
 19. A weighted and extended golf putter shaft for moving the balance point of any putter to the optimum point, comprising: a hollow, elongated large diameter shaft, for insertion of weight; a round, extra-long, un-capped hand grippable means, for playability and U.S.G.A. rules conformity, adhesively wrapped to said large diameter shaft; a U.S.G.A. approved club head, for weight calculation, adhesively affixed to said large diameter shaft; a cylindrical weight means, for changing the balance point of the golf putter, insertably glued to said large diameter shaft; a visible guide line, for definition as to playing length of the golf putter, circumferentially delineated to said hand grippable means; an extended shaft weight means housing, for housing the weight means, internally housed to said hand grippable means; an expanded diameter, cylindrical weight means cap, for allowing weight means to slide down into the shaft during construction, stopping and holding said weight means at the upper portion of the shaft, and forming a cosmetic end cap that is flush with the outside diameter of the shaft; a top of centerline, for accurate identification of reference measurements; a bottom of centerline, for accurate identification of reference measurements; a centerline, for identification of axis along which length of putter is determined; a measurable for every putter balance point, for identifying the point at which an equal amount of the weight of the golf putter is above and below, fixedly set to said large diameter shaft; and a 46.5% to 48.5% of the playing length lower half weight length, for the distance location of required balance point which dictates the weight means necessary for any given club head. 